


Beautiful Scars

by lethally_deadly



Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: M/M, Not really an AU but I took creative liberties, Tattoo AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-05
Updated: 2016-01-05
Packaged: 2018-05-12 00:46:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,073
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5647735
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lethally_deadly/pseuds/lethally_deadly
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Clint finds himself drawn to Bucky and his beautiful tattoos. He realizes that while he finds them beautiful, Bucky has a different opinion. As the two somehow become friends, and eventually more, Clint keeps admiring the tattoos, this time not from a distance.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Beautiful Scars

**Author's Note:**

  * For [SweetAsCyanide](https://archiveofourown.org/users/SweetAsCyanide/gifts).



> This was a lot of fun and I really enjoyed writing it! I hope you like it, SweetAsCyanide!! :)
> 
> Also, this was beta'd by my dear friend [hrafnsvaengr](http://hrafnsvaengr.tumblr.com/)! Check him out on tumblr or ao3!

The first time he sees them, he wishes he hadn't.

Bucky and Clint had been apprehended by HYDRA after failing to break into one of their facilities. The two had come close to sneaking into the main control room when Clint had been jumped by several HYDRA agents, followed shortly by Bucky after the agents brought cattle prods and tasers to the party.

When Clint comes to, he is in a cold dusty room reminiscent to that of a jail cell. In an adjacent cell Bucky sits. His shirt torn to shreds with blood flowing freely down his torso, his arms bound high above, his head slumped forwards. His hair hangs limply, obscuring his face. 

Even through the bars, blood, and tattered remains of his uniform, Clint can see them from here. 

Barnes’ tattoos. 

Bucky’s entire left side is revealed--thanks to the previous abuse dealt by HYDRA--so Clint has an unobscured view of Bucky’s ink. From this angle and lighting Clint can't really tell what's a scar and what's a tattoo, but the blood casually dripping down the art is a little horrifying for Clint to watch. 

Bucky shifts with a moan of pain but doesn't seem to notice Clint’s silent scrutiny of his body. Clint has always enjoyed checking Bucky out, but he can't seem to get his mind off the tattoos. Bucky is in pain and all Clint can think about is the blood covering up his ink.

He doesn't have long to think on that. The door slams open and reveals Steve Rogers in all his wholesome American glory. Steve curses under his breath and rushes to Clint's cell. He breaks the lock with his shield and turns to Bucky's cell. Steve sucks in a breath and his face goes pale. He leans down to untie his unconscious friend with a determined set of his shoulders. 

The rest of the Avengers show up while Steve is breaking Bucky free. Steve motions them all to get out, telling them he’ll meet them outside, but Clint hesitates. He feels a tug on his wrist but cannot look away from Barnes and his tattooed and bloodstained body. He finally snaps out of his daydream when he feels a sharp pinch on his arm and looks at the assailant with a yelp. _Natasha_. Clint shoots her a look that quickly smothers itself at the sound of Bucky’s pained groan from Steve’s arms. Clint looks at the super soldiers as Steve shoves past them to get Bucky out of the facility to safety. Clint and Natasha share a look and follow their leader out of the warehouse, Clint still with the images of Bucky Barnes’ mangled flesh burned into his mind.

~ * ~ 

The next time he sees them he really _sees_ them.

Besides that day in the HYDRA cell he'd never noticed them before. After a pretty intense round in the gym with Bucky and Steve, the three of them hit the showers. Clint watches with mild surprise as Bucky shucks his shirt right in front of both him and Steve. Normally Bucky is too self conscious about the arm to publicly strip unlike the rest of the Avengers. Today, however, Bucky doesn’t seem to think he needs to hide his body from anyone and doesn’t even seem uncomfortable with his body on display. A swell of something not unlike pride and contentment builds behind Clint’s ribs as he thinks of what it means that Bucky trusts him.

Clint tries--he really does--not to stare at Bucky, but the beautiful body now on display demands to be ogled, and he just wouldn’t be Clint Barton if he passed up a chance to do some ogling. Shooting Barnes a look out of the corner of his eye, he discreetly takes in the man and sweeps his eyes slowly down the slope of Bucky’s back, not missing a thing. 

The thin, tangled lines he thought were scars on Bucky’s torso turn out to be ink: lines of ink flowing beautifully over scar tissue and muscle alike, making his body more art than flesh. Clint has to stifle as gasp as Bucky turns around to face him. From the back the tattoo is beautiful, but from the side it’s _breathtaking._ The thin lines that twine together over his back come together at the side to create a tree, which has no leaves and even looks to be dead but holds some of the most beautiful art he has ever seen. The tree has a twisted trunk that is heavily shaded with black, completing the whole black and grey look. But if Clint looks _just right_ he can see a small red bud on one branch of the tree’s lifeless limbs. The bud looks fragile, small but strong as it stands out like a beacon, calling all attention to itself. 

Clint has abandoned all sense of nonchalance and is staring intently at the tattoo. Bucky stares right back before he throws an arm around his beautiful side obscuring Clint’s view and turning away to shower.

Clint stands there, thinking about the lines of ink that blend into Bucky’s skin, connecting metal and flesh and marrying them into a beautiful cohesive masterpiece on his body. He thinks about how many times he’s seen Bucky move, not knowing what designs clearly lurk below his shirt. Clint isn’t called Hawkeye for nothing but he is surprised it has taken him this long to notice the sniper’s tattoos, and now that he knows they’re there, he knows he will be watching the man closely trying to glimpse these newfound images and discover their meaning.

~ * ~

This time he sees them by accident.

Clint has been trying to spend more time with Bucky nowadays. The man intrigues him and he finds himself curious about who he really is underneath all the masculinity and anger he uses to hide himself these days. 

After a long day of fighting doombots and listening to Victor Von Doom’s Woe-is-me-I’m-going-to-take-out-my-failure-on-the-whole-city rant, Clint figures it’d do him some good to relax in the common room. He tells the team that they’re having an “emergency movie night” and they all file in, leaving a space beside Clint for Bucky to take. It's no secret to anyone except Bucky that Clint is sweet on the guy and the Avengers is a team made up of the best wingmen a guy could ask for. 

When Bucky finally staggers into the common room he slumps down beside Clint and rests his head on the archer’s shoulder. They have been dancing around this _thing_ between them for a couple of weeks, not really putting a name on it but increasing casual touches and lounging together. It gives Clint butterflies in his stomach every time he is near the guy. He loves the times they spend together, but he needs _more._

Clint hits the play button and the room fills with the sound of bad acting and explosions. He unconsciously moves closer to Bucky and closes the distance between their bodies, pressing their entire sides together. Bucky shifts his head from Clint’s shoulder--who grunts at the loss--and swings an arm on the back of the couch behind Clint in a near imitation of “the move”. The two settle and Clint blatantly ignores the grin Natasha throws his way from across the room.

As the movie ends, the Avengers all go their separate ways to their rooms--all except for Tony and Steve who link hands and wander to their shared floor--leaving Bucky and Clint alone on the couch. Clint unplasters himself from Bucky’s warm side and goes to stand up. A groan escapes Bucky’s lips and he grabs Clint, ignoring the archer’s squeak, and pulls the archer back against his body, snuggling him. Clint wants to pull away but stops after a growl bubbles from Bucky’s throat and only manages to shift around to look at the soldier. His shirt has risen up a little and Clint knows he shouldn’t but he reaches out and tugs it up further. Being situated on Bucky’s left side provides him with an unobstructed view of the gorgeous lines on the man’s body and finds it hard to look away. Clint looks closely at the tree trunk he had seen before and is surprised to see images within the tree’s bark. A shield, a spider, a gun, and different images and symbols that clearly are significant to Bucky. 

Clint itches to touch the warm skin. He bites his lip and searches Bucky’s face that is close enough to his own that he feels the warm breath puff across his forehead, and makes his decision. He reaches a hand up to touch the soldier’s ribs when a heavy, cold hand grabs his wrist so suddenly Clint lets out a small shout and tries to tug his arm back. 

“Now, what’re you up to, Barton?” Comes the sleepy question from Bucky. Clint looks at the man’s face again and sees those piercing ice blue eyes burn into him.

“Nothing,” he mumbles and tries to take his hand back once more.

“You can look but no touching,” Bucky says with a huff. “That is, until we get to the bedroom.”

Clint’s head shoots up to look at the smirk on Bucky’s face and grins brightly in return. The two stand and head to Bucky’s floor. No further ado was necessary.

~ * ~

The first time he _touches_ them, they are in bed.

After a rather athletic and equally passionate round of sex in Bucky’s room, the two men lie comfortably beside each other. 

Clint looks over at his bedmate and smiles breathlessly as he flips onto his side to look at the soldier. 

“When did you get this?” He asks motioning at the tattoo. 

“A couple months ago,” comes the nervous reply. “I hated the scars.”

With a frown Clint props himself up on an elbow and gives Bucky’s side a good look over. He reaches out a hand and pointedly looks Bucky in the eye, an obvious question in his eyes. Bucky nods at the unspoken question and breathes in harshly as Clint places his warm hand on the tattoo. 

Clint traces the thin branches with awe, taking in all the intricate details that make Bucky’s side a work of art. He traces the trunk of the tree, seeing even more pictures with the tattoo than he originally thought: a shield, a gun, ballet slippers, a locket. The images are so small you wouldn't be able to see them if you weren't explicitly looking. 

It's beautiful. 

He tells Bucky as much and the soldier huffs a laugh, “You should have seen it before. You wouldn't be using the word beautiful if you had seen the scars.” Bucky takes Clint's hand off his side and cradles it between his own with a sad smile. Clint frowns at the sadness there and leans in to kiss his side lightly. 

“I have scars too, ya know,” Clint says against Bucky's side. He feels the soldier shiver and presses his grin into Bucky's side and laughs a smug little giggle. Bucky lightly slaps Clint on the back and pulls him onto his chest. Bucky tilts Clint’s face towards him and plants a kiss right onto his mouth with a smack. 

“So it doesn't bother you?” Bucky asks in a small voice that breaks Clint's heart. 

“Of course it doesn't bother me, babe,” Clint whispers, “I love you and the tattoo is gorgeous.” 

Bucky freezes and his eyes widen. “You love me?”

Clint looks away from Bucky's face and starts tracing the lines on his side again, running his fingers up and down the smooth and scarred skin. “Well, yeah. We've been doing this for a while and, I dunno we just… _fit_.”

Bucky beams and pulls Clint's face up again. “I love you too, you idiot. I didn't think you felt the same way yet.”

Clint laughs and wraps his arms around Bucky's neck. “Do you love me enough for a round two?” He asks, waggling his eyebrows at the super soldier. 

Bucky looks down at Clint with a hungry look in his eyes. “You bet your sweet ass I do.” With a grin he takes Clint by the hips and flips them so he is pressing the blond into the mattress. “I could go all night, doll.”

Clint shivers and arches his neck for another kiss. 

“Well, what are you waiting for, soldier?”


End file.
